37-27B To make democracy work, we have to work it

The awful truth about the corporate and governmental power elites in our democratic society is that they really don’t like democracy at all. They prefer to rule by buying lawmakers, hiring lobbyists, running Orwellian PR campaigns, and relying on authoritarian police power to control The People.

They pay lip service to our right to protest, but they mean we should send emails, letters, and phone calls to our congress critters – about as effective as screaming “stop it” at a category 5 hurricane. But Americans are innately rebellious, so ultimately they push back against the stupidity and avarice of elites. Witness the 31 members of Greenpeace who dared to exercise their First Amendment rights to assemble and speak out forcefully against the fossil-fuel industry’s destruction of humanity’s living environment.